’That irritating prick... he must have used the reversal effect of the Hanged Man on the Ruiner before he resigned.’ Gamemaster Gamble’s expression turned irked.
He knew that the Hanged Man had an affixed effect of reversing one’s decisions, choices, attacks, or such... however, instead of the Dealer using it to reverse the Ruiner’s anger, he made it reverse the opposite decision!
He understood that once he resigned, the Ruiner’s form was going to be in a dormant state until Levi finished his battle and faced him.
Instead of allowing this to happen, the Dealer reversed it... now, the instant the Ruiner felt like he wanted to lessen his rage, it increased even more, leaving him to waste his energy on needless destruction! In turn, this weakened him immensely.
’The bastard knew that he can’t get rid of the Ruiner’s anger as easily as making him angrier.’ Gamemaster Gamble clicked his tongue, ’Not a bad try to carry favor with the Celestial... but, I am not some amateur Gamemaster.’
No hesitation, Gamemaster Gamble waved his hands while shouting out loud, "Ladies and Gentlemen!! Are you ready for the final battle! The battle that will decide who will become a Noble and who will remain a peasant within the Boundless Expanse!"
Following the watchers’ hyped-up cheers, Gamemaster Gamble’s voice echoed through the huge building. "Now... the battle of death begins. No breaks. No recovery!"
Before Levi, the Ruiner, or the watchers could react, the entire building rumbled thunderously... every wall around them cracked at once, then folded inward as if sucked into a hole.
The roof tore apart and vanished into the colorful void above... in seconds, the building became nothing more than a massive sealed decahedron arena with exterior walls still standing.
The spectators were pushed back by his omnipotence and placed around the edges of the void, hovering far from the arena but able to see everything.
Gamemaster Gamble appeared in the middle of the arena, grinning like always. Then, he moved closer to Levi and whispered, "The Dealer already gave you a hand, but... I don’t accept win trades in my games."
"Good luck, Celestial... you will need it."
Levi’s throat tightened, swallowing hard when he looked at the Ruiner’s immense spiritual aura... he had put almost everything in his last fight. His energy levels were all in critical condition, and although his body was healed of its wounds, his mind was still fatigued immensely.
The pain and the hardship he went through in the past game would have broken many... but, Levi refused to accept his ending.
Just when he thought that he came out somewhat clean, Gamemaster Gamble gave them not even a minute to recover... he removed the interior walls and rooms, leaving him face to face with an unleashed beast.
’This... I can’t fight him... I can’t win, not in this state.’
Levi tightened his grip on his summoned violin as he gazed at the Ruiner’s spiritual aura, rising behind him like a giant shadow... twisted, screaming, red, and violent.
It looked like a devil leaning over his shoulder, its mouth open in an endless roar while his horns were bleeding down on the Ruiner, who was slowly stepping out of the crater.
’Levi... before, I would have agreed that you have no chance against an Angrath unleashed true form.’ Ash’Kral said solemnly, ’But not today... not when he is clearly exhausted, and you have already unlocked the biggest counter for any emotional-based power.’
Hearing this, the answer clicked in Levi’s mind instantly... Melody Aspect.
’You’re saying I must play a tune that can pacify his anger...’
’I am saying, you have no choice.’
’Ah... this game is just nonstop war for survival.’
’That’s the big leagues for you... no one is weak, no one is easy.’
’Well, me neither.’ Levi frowned sternly as he grabbed his violin and placed it under his chin, ’I am not dying here...’
As Levi took a deep breath, he zoned out everything... but the violin and the raging sea of wrath many kilometers away from him.
"FIGHT!!"
The instant Gamemaster Gamble’s voice resounded across the roofless arena, the Ruiner found himself capable of moving again.
No hesitation, he charged in Levi’s direction on all four, resembling an awakened beast that saw food for the first time in eons.
As the ground rumbled in his wake, Levi took off towards the sky while sinking his emotions into the violin... the first note touched the arena like a soft wave... then another... and another.
The sound spread across the colorful void... smooth and warm. The instant the notes touched the raging Ruiner, his emotional state was shown before Levi as a chaos of agitated frequencies painted in bleeding red!
Levi knew that his goal was to untangle and appease those frequencies... only then would the Ruiner’s wrath be under the control of his tunes!
But, this was easier said than done.
Whoosh!
The Ruiner instantly lunged himself in Levi’s direction, appearing almost instantly in front of him even when there were many kilometers separating them!
Instead of engaging him, Levi used Combustion Leap to relocate himself... the Ruiner missed him by a couple meters, and yet, his passive oppressive aura still pushed Levi away, like he was standing behind an airplane’s jet!
Yet... Levi didn’t lose focus on the shambled frequencies... he kept touching them with soft and warm notes, wishing to link their frequencies and smoothen them.
Alas, his notes faced immense struggle... the Ruiner’s wrath was simply too much, a simple warm tune wouldn’t cut it to establish the connection.
Thud!!
Seeing the Ruiner smashing on the ground and relaunching himself again, Levi swiftly took off further into the sky until he reached the invisible barrier keeping them locked in the arena’s space.
Yet... even when the Ruiner was exhausted due to the Dealer’s last card, he didn’t seem like it. He swiftly reached the invisible roof and smashed into it head first after Levi evaded his rush... barely.
Boooom!!!
The invisible barrier repelled the Ruiner away as not even his immense strength could break through Nocturn’s authority. But, as he was falling, his red eyes locked into Levi’s.
Then, he made a spinning kick and launched off a sea of wrathful oppressive aura that could smash Levi into paste!
Levi used whatever remaining of solar energy within the Sun Seed’s tank to unleash one last burst of Sun Jets.
This saved him from the oppressive projectile, but he knew... his sun-based attacks were done for unless he used the little amount left in his Nine Senses Seed’s tank. Levi couldn’t afford to waste it when he needed it for his tunes.
Levi watched the crimson aura flare around the Ruiner like living fire... he gazed deeply into the frequencies and murmured inwardly, ’Emotions are frequencies... Wrath is nothing more but agitated frequencies channeled into energy... If I can tune into it... I can control it.’
Levi’s fingers hovered above the strings as he engrossed himself within his own wrath... he understood that he needed to understand his own wrath before he could move someone else’s.
But, when he tuned into his wrath... he noticed that its frequencies were already stable, appeased. This reminded him of the ’months’ he spent trapped inside a cell with the Bishop and Darius. His wrath before that day was buried deep inside his heart, hidden behind years of torture and hatred.
But after the healing process he went through... he had learned something important: to face the anger, to accept it, was to let it guide him instead of controlling him.
His bow danced on the strings as he envisioned the Ruiner’s aura as his own wrath... now, he started playing not to control the chaos, the storm of suppressed fear, pain, and fury within the Ruiner, but his own.
The watchers anticipating a one-sided slaughter were left listening in silence as Levi’s notes rang out... low, tense, and filled with the sharp edge of past anger.
It wasn’t polished, yet... it was raw.
And yet... they were stunned to see the Ruiner’s aura throbbing violently in response, matching the note!
-Don’t tell me... he is planning to tame the beast through a song?-
-Melody Aspect... if there is one aspect that can control the Angrath’s wrath, it’s this... the Aspect of manipulating emotions through music!-
-Holy... the Celestial actually has a shot?-
The watchers had no idea what to think... they could only watch as Levi kept abusing the wide open space of the arena and his sharp reflexes to keep avoiding the Ruiner’s barbaric lunges!
He might be powerful, but he couldn’t use his wrath to fly.
Meanwhile, Levi kept improvising on instincts... each movement of the bow was a request, a push and pull of sound designed to resonate with the Ruiner’s wrathful energy!
The strings kept vibrating with Levi’s own long-suppressed frustration, shaped not as aggression, but as understanding... understanding of what unchecked anger could do to someone.
’What’s... going... on...’
Even the Ruiner started to feel it... started to feel the tunes washing over his flames of wrath as a gentle stream of a heavenly river.
Usually, once the Ruiner entered this state... he was thrown to the back of his subconscious, having no control, no say, even no vision of what was going on until his form died off and the seals contained his wrath.
But now? His consciousness was returning... cloudy at first, but his vision and feelings cleared out, allowing him to feel and see what’s going on.
That’s when he noticed his beast trying to lash out barbarically, but the music met him like a countercurrent, smoothing the edges of his wrathful frequency... every harsh, red spike of energy softened slightly, bending to the flow of Levi’s melody.
When Levi saw the Ruiner’s chaotic and agitated red frequencies beginning to soften and untangle, he didn’t let down his guard... no, his tempo rose and fell, mirroring the Ruiner’s chaotic heartbeat. Then, he added subtle harmonies to guide it, almost like threading a needle through storm clouds.
His own buried rage... the anger he had learned to face in the cell... gave him insight. He knew exactly where to touch, which notes to strike, to reach the Ruiner’s hidden core without breaking him, because those spots were the same for him!
Anger as an emotion was a unified frequency across the universe... some might use it differently, some might control it differently, but the natural frequency of anger was the same.
As Levi played the song for his own buried anger, he was releasing the Ruiner from his wrathful shackles as well!
The Ruiner’s body shuddered as he tried to lunge at Levi but alas... he lost his balance and fell on the ground with a loud thud!
And yet, he stood up with a thunderous roar and tried to do it again... unfortunately, his claws and muscles started to relax like they were being bathed in a drug, not a song.
’No... no... no... my ultimate form can’t be dealt with like this... not with a song!’